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BlackRock’s Birch Quits Gold Fund for Dairy Farming (Update2)
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By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Graham Birch quit as manager of BlackRock Inc.’s BGF World Gold Fund, which outperformed its benchmark index in nine of the past 10 years, to run a dairy farm in southwest England.

Birch, head of BlackRock’s natural resources team, had been on sabbatical since March and was scheduled to return at the beginning of this year. The 49-year-old will now run his 2,300- acre farm in Dorset full time.

“I want to take a break from the City,” Birch said by phone today, referring to London’s financial district. Farming “takes up most of my time now,” he said from his holding, which produces milk and grains.

The World Gold Fund, co-managed by Evy Hambro, invests in natural resources equities and held almost $6.9 billion of assets at the end of last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Luxembourg-listed shares rose from $5.82 at the end of 2000 to $52.27 yesterday.

Birch also managed or co-managed BlackRock’s World Mining Trust, Agriculture Hedge Fund and Natural Resources Hedge Fund. He began his career as a mining equity analyst with Panmure Gordon in 1984, with similar roles at Kleinwort Benson Securities and Ord Minnett. He also worked for Mercury Asset Management and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which merged with BlackRock in 2006.

Morningstar Ratings

Hambro and Robin Batchelor will take over Birch’s responsibilities as head of BlackRock’s natural-resources equity team, according to Emma Phillips, a BlackRock spokeswoman. The team oversees $36.3 billion, she said.

Morningstar Inc., a Chicago-based investment research company, maintained its ratings on the BlackRock funds following Birch’s departure. “It was clear the team was already prepared for whatever decision Birch made,” Jackie Beard, head of U.K. fund research, wrote today in a note.

Morningstar maintained its top rating for BlackRock Gold & General, BGF World Gold and BGF World Mining. BGF World Energy and BGF New Energy are rated “superior,” the second-best rank.

Birch has a degree in mining geology from Imperial College and earned a doctorate there in the same subject in 1984.

His farm produces 3 million liters (792,000 gallons) of milk a year and supplies Dairy Crest Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest milk and cheese producer.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London at [e-mail]
Last Updated: January 15, 2010 11:51 EST